Mashal murder case: K-P government appoints special prosecutor

With a hefty fee of Rs1.5m, Sardar to join public prosecutors already pleading the case

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government on Monday appointed a private lawyer as special prosecutor to fight the murder case of Mashal Khan before an anti-terrorism court in Haripur jail.

Mashal, a student of journalism department at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, was brutally murdered by a mob of students and the university staff in April this year over allegations of posting blasphemous content online. Fifty-seven suspects have been indicted in the murder case.

In this regard, the K-P Home and Tribal Affairs Department issued a notification appointing lawyer Sardar Abdur Rauf Khan as special prosecutor.

Sardar will join the team of public prosecutors already pleading the case on behalf of the K-P government, said officials of the K-P prosecution department.

The father of Mashal Khan had requested the K-P government to hire senior lawyer Sardar for the trial of his son’s case. The K-P government appointed Sardar under Section 18 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, which empowers the provincial government to appoint a special prosecutor for a case.

“We have put the best and most competent public prosecutors of our department on the case. The special counsel has been appointed on the request of Mashal’s father,” said Irshadullah Afridi, Director Legal of the K-P Directorate General of Prosecution.

The K-P home department has also sent a summary to the provincial finance department for the release of Rs1.5 million fee of the private counsel. However, the finance department stated that under the section regarding the matter, the K-P Law Department has to approve the summary first.

“The funds will be released after the law department approves the summary,” said Hayatur Rehman, the budget officer concerned, adding that he had communicated this to the directorate general of prosecution.

K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has already announced to bear the financial cost of the case.

Reports were rife about a senior public prosecutor Zafar Abbas receiving threats to back off from the case or face dire consequences. However, Abbas refuted such reports as inaccurate.

The hearing of the case will resume on Wednesday (tomorrow).